Attention to Details: 2008

Monday

It's finally that time!

Come rain or shine, photography is a very serious business. :) I hope I don't look that consterned all the time. Eeek.

**Anyways** I am so excited to say that I reached my goal of posting a picture from every day of the last year!! It was really fun, especially knowing that you were my audience. Thanks so much for keeping me company through it all and encouraging me along!

I don't know what comes next for me and my camera. At the moment I am pretty tired of taking pictures. Aye. Largely because I've lost some creative zest. But, I know it will come back. So, I am very open to ideas for future little projects; themes and such to work on. For the time being I think I'll continue to post some pictures every week. So, I hope you'll check back now and then.

But for now, for reasons which I will inform you of in due time, I would absolutely love to know what your favorite picture of the year was. So, if you would be so kind I would love to hear what you think! Thank you!

Love,

Annie

September 5: pajama party

Tonight we made pajama pants with all the new first year ladies. I'm pretty sure we bought out all of Wooster's yellow fabric supply :) It was a lot of fun and I think we must do it again.

September 4: my social director

An unexpected and very delightful evening spent with two of my favorite people, explaining the inner workings of my planner system (and other things). This was my life a few years ago...I wonder what all those conversations were about. I am a planner convert and like to pass along everything that's been taught to me. It's nice to be your planner-twin Paul!

September 3: looks like a duck...

Until Katie burst in the door this afternoon asking me to take a picture of her vegetable that looks like a duck, I did not know that this website existed. Apparently, there are a lot of people who are very fond of ducks who take pictures of things that resemble them.

http://www.thispeanutlookslikeaduck.com/

Tuesday

September 2: a knock at the door...

This is my downstairs neighbor. He knocks on our door with his own special knock several times weekly. He always has wierd stuff with him...sometimes he brings plastic bottles up to put with our recycling because he knows we recycle and I guess he wants to be part of the action. One time he came up with a subway bag full of dimes asking me to pot his geraniums with my potting soil (I didn't accept the dimes in case you were wondering). Recently, it was a small plastic container of earth worms that he had left over from fishing (not wanting to hurt his feelings, we of course accepted the worms and put them in the balcony garden). AND today while we were eating dinner there was the special knock at the door and low and behold --there he was with a giant box of Flamin' Hot Cheetos. It's just one sitcom episode after another around here. I do nothing -- I do absolutely nothing. It all just happens around me.

September 1: cute

Sunday

It's that time again!!!

AUGUST PICTURE OF THE MONTH....

I'm only five days away from completing my goal of taking a picture every day for a whole year!

I am of course curious as to what your favorite picture of the day from August is.

You can click on comments below and vote :)

August 31: fun with sparklers (part 2)

August 30: Birthday girl!

With her very own glow-in-the-dark name bracelet.

Friday

August 29: harvest!

This is a tiny watermelon (a quarter-melon is what we are dubbing it) that Katie and I grew on our balcony. After waiting patiently (and remembering that balconies are not the natural environment for farming watermelons) it seemed that it had reached its peak size and we decided to enjoy the fruits of our labor. It was remarkably delicious and sweet, and lots of joy was derived from the whole experience. The peppers are finally turning yellow and red and I'm really excited about THAT!

August 28: What can't you make with duct tape?

Oasis got off to a great start with a duct-tape creating fest. Audrey was adorned with various accessories that we created. My group made a red winter ensemble. The mittens sort of looked like boxing gloves but I am convinced that if absolutely neccessary they could provide some warmth in a frigid Ohio winter.

August 27: eager anticipation

We can't wait to meet you baby! Doesn't Julie look cute? I know.

August 26: bubble-wrap

It was all rolled up and waiting to be played with.

August 25: quotables

I forgot to take a picture, until I was about to fall asleep. So, I took one of the bookshelf next to my bed. It's sort of a simple commentary on how much my life has changed in the past five years. I used to love quotations. I collected them and would write a new one down every day to put in my friend Maggie's locker. It was one of the many little distractions I employed to keep myself sane (and attending) high school (ask me about fake flower extravaganzas, Galsmaltalhaler, 2nd Tuesdays of the month, and bubble-skating rinks...I was not lacking in diversions :). I didn't notice till just today how long it's been since I even looked at one of these books full of the gems of dead people. Not that there is not wisdom contained there, surely there is. But now I find that all the gems I really need are contained in one place, the Word of God that uncannily fits into my purse. It was a good realization. Then I fell asleep.

August 24: dinner

Sunday

August 24: Ohio #2

It's nice to see the corn again. It's wierd how the field next to church morphs so visibly throughout the seasons of the year. I appreciate it a lot.

August 22: under the tent

An afternoon of meeting new students and eating watermelon under the tent.

August 21: pew pile-up

Goodbye circa 1972 Northview carpet!

Wednesday

August 20: orange sky

sort of like fingerpaint

August 19: found

Katie rescued these roses today (who would have thought?), and they are now adorning our table.

August 18: Linda

Linda is one of the most beautiful people I know. I love how her shoes are always under her chair.

August 17: grasshopper in a box

This was my attempt to capture the grasshopper emerging from the cardboard box. He had a lot of battle-wounds...he was a seasoned grasshopper with lots of character.

August 16: surplus

Today, Julie D. and I were extremely fascinated by the shenanigans of the matching umbrella people. They were sort of loud and without even trying, my ears kept perking up when a woman from this bunch of people would say fascinating and strange things, such as: "It was really a shame when they stopped making picnic tables with the holes drilled in 'em...luckily for us though all these companies had lots of extra picnic table umbrellas that they couldn't sell. So we bought 'em out." (This was news to me...I didn't realize the decision to stop putting holes in picnic tabels had occured on such a widespread scale)

And then later I heard two people having what seemed to be a very passionate discussion about linguistics. One man said:

"In all of my reading, I have never ever come across anyone in thier twenties who uses the word 'coiffed'"

I wanted so badly to know where that conversation had started and how they had gotten to that point. It will always be a mystery I guess.

August 15: campfire

August 14: "a deer"

My mom and I went out to dinner at this little cottage tonight. This original placemat was on display in a glass case and we were quite captured by it. The cook said it was her favorite crayon-on-placemat drawing that she'd ever seen.

August 13: Squishy

I found this chart at the library today. Because my squishy fruit disdain seems to regularly become a topic of interest at meals, I thought you might appreciate an annotated pictorial rubric which you can consult regarding my fruit preferences. Hopefully this satisfies your curiousity at some level.

Additionally, for the record:

I love the flavors of all of these fruits it's just the texture that I find to be unpalatable. For some reason, squishy vegetables have never been a problem for me.

No, this is not my mom's fault. She provided me with plenty of opportunities to try different fruits throughout my childhood.

I love street names that have fruit words in them (Cherry Street, Lemon Avenue, Peach Lane...) and even hope that maybe someday my return address could bear a fruit name of the like.

I think fruits are beautiful, even the ones I don't like and think they are an amazing creation. Sometimes I wish I could just like peaches, because in theory they seem so amazing.

And finally, I have been to far away lands and eaten insects, and assorted unidentifiable delicacies that I just pretended were vegetables in order to eat them and keep my hosts and hostess feeling happy. I can and will eat anything if necessary, and until you eat some bugs too, I will not be accepting any snide remarks about my choice to not eat orange slices :) Thank you very much.

The end.

August 12:

Katie and I spent a lot of time in her car tonight listening to some timeless classics...and some other things.

Tuesday

August 11: Don't leave home without it

A tribute to a great invention.

August 10: to love and to cherish

So, Becky got a husband this weekend. I got an orchid. While hopefully I'll get the former someday too, I guess I have always wanted an orchid. I was pretty impressed that it made it all the way home in my car. Hopefully, it will survive in my care. (hopefully :)

August 9: Wedding day!

They sort of looked like they belonged on the cover of a magazine all afternoon. Beautiful people :)

August 8: partiality

August 7: Jack & Becky

August 6: Chettie grows up

Katie and I got in pretty late to Lancaster. Chettie was excited to see us, but mellowed pretty quickly as you see here. He's growing up!

August 5: good form

I'll be on Dan's team any day.

August 4: The Balcony Garden

I'm pretty excited about all of the growing vegetables on our porch right now! I can't believe that they were just seeds and tiny little plants a few months ago! (April 13th for example) Miraculous.

August 3: Hello Wooster.

I realized a few months ago that I have an affinity for a particular industrial corner in Wooster. I found myself going out of my way to drive past it sometimes. I think I like it so much because it's full of colorful boxes that are always being moved around and stacked in different places. It's always changing like some alive form of abstract art. It showed itself well today when I got home.

August 2: Hampton's porch

I got to spend some time with the Hamptons today at their new home in Michigan. It's really peaceful, beautiful and in a friendly neighborhood. As you might expect, there were also lots of flowers :)

August 1: spectacular clouds

This could never do it justice, I wish you could have seen this sky for yourself.

It's that time again!!!

JULY PICTURE OF THE MONTH

July's pictures are all up!

This was sort of difficult month for me in terms of the whole picture taking enterprise. I found myself pre-occupied with a video camera, and a lack of feeling any sort of artisticness, and there were lots of people with really nice cameras with zoom lenses that I was pining after, and I couldn't seem to get the light setting right on my camera, and....I could whine on for longer BUT, instead I will just say that I still took one every day and I am satisfied to look back on them all and see the collection of moments. That works for me and I hope you like some of them too!

As always, I love hearing which is your favorite. Click "comments" and let me know what you think!

July 31: Gnome Rock

We left our pile of rocks. They are beautiful and waterproof.

July 30: a beautiful song

O Love that will not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.

O Light that followest all my way,
I yield my flickering torch to thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in they sunshine's blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.

O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.

O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life's glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.

July 29: notes from II Timothy

July 28:

I had to run back to my cabin after dinner and when I got there, there was this deer waiting outside the door. I don't know why it came so close but I didn't seem to scare it. So, we stood there for a few minutes looking at each other. It was a sweet surprise in my day.

July 27: The list

Whitney's list of the possible talent show offerings our family group could come up with. Once we found out it was a "classy" talent show, the list got considerably shorter.

July 26: At the locks

Today my family group went to Sault Saint Marie to the locks. We waited and waited and waited for this ship to arrive...unfortunately there were no men in yellow and orange rubber suits to wave at us as they came through. But I did find this nice flag with an 'A' on it.

July 25: aphids are cute

While I realize that aphids eat plants and are one of the most destructive pests on earth, I just cannot get over how cute they are. So cute. Look at that little expression...and his green metallic torso...and those wayward antennae. I also find them to be extremely friendly, content to just sit on my finger. I think I am in denial that they are trouble makers.

July 24: pennants

Can you find Wooster's? It's pretty old school.

July 23: starlight cruise

Our family group got to go out on a pontoon boat tonight and learn about the constellations. It was a really beautiful and clear night. Did you know there is a little constellation that looks like a dolphin? It was dark enough that we could see it. I also saw the milky way and a shooting star!